Anurag Thakur has been elected unopposed to the post of president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The 41-year-old Thakur takes over after Shashank Manohar stepped down from his post earlier this month in order to take charge as an independent chairman at the International Cricket Council.

Thakur on Saturday filed his nomination papers for the presidential post, and on Sunday his election was first confirmed by the BCCI in a short message on twitter, which read: 'Congratulations Mr. President - @ianuragthakur'.

Anurag Thakur has been elected as the new president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India

A statement on the BCCI website later said: 'Mr. Anurag Thakur has been unanimously elected as the new BCCI president at the Special General Meeting held at the Cricket Centre, Mumbai on May 22, 2016. Mr. Thakur's tenure as BCCI president will extend till 2017.

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Thakur becomes the third president of the BCCI within the space of a year, as Manohar's rise to the post had come following the death of his predecessor Jagmohan Dalmiya in September 2015.

In Thakur's previous role as BCCI secretary, he became arguably the most public face of the national governing body and sought to improve the image of a board reeling from various scandals including those around spot-fixing in the cash-rich Indian Premier League.

He is a member of parliament in India's lower house, while he is also the president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association, home to the picturesque cricketing locale of Dharamsala.